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Suicide Squad: “New 52” Deadshot by DC Collectibles

Last Monday, I checked out the first of DC Collectibles’ Suicide Squad figures. It’s Monday again, so let’s just keep this little tradition rolling along with a look at the next figure… Deadshot! Floyd Lawton is, of course, one of the common threads between my beloved Secret Six comic and Suicide Squad and he also happens to rank pretty high on my list of favorite DC villains. The pre-reboot Deadshot got a great figure in Mattel’s DCUC line and now it’s up to DC Collectibles to deliver unto us the “New 52” version.

The box is the same as we saw last week with Captain Boomerang. It’s a little more exciting than most of those bland white boxes we’ve been getting from DC Collectibles. For example… oh, look! Bullet holes! But in the end it really just serves to show off the figure at your local comic shop, whether it be sitting on the shelf or hanging on a peg. There’s no blurb about the character or the comic or anything. The back panel does, however, have images of the three figures released so far and if you do decide to hang on to the box, it is completely collector friendly. Let’s open him up and check him out.

The character design of pre-reboot Deadshot is pretty iconic to me, but I’m not adverse to Floyd’s new look. It’s worth noting that I’m also pretty fond of the Arkham City re-imagining of the character too, so apparently I’m not terribly picky. The Suicide Squad Deadshot is a far grittier and he sports a lot of strategically placed armor over his segmented body suit. Most of the armor plates and straps are part of the body sculpt, but executed so as to offer a lot of credibility and depth to Deadshot’s combat ensemble. The shoulder armor pieces are separate from the body and mounted on hinges so that they can work with the arm articulation and the four magazine pouches running across his chest are also additions to the body. Naturally, Deadshot features his wrist guns mounted on his gauntlets. They look good, but I’m not as keen on these as I am his old fashioned rotating bracers. Those were downright awesome!

The helmet on the other hand is pretty incredible. Deadshot retains his iconic monocle, complete with tampo’d crosshairs. The panel lining on the helmet is beautifully done and I love the way the neck of the segmented body suit disappears into the bottom of the helmet. A swappable head would have been really cool, but it’s omission is understandable at this price point. Still, if DCC were to produce an unmasked version featuring Floyd’s handsome mug, I would buy this figure again in a heartbeat.

The paintwork on the figure is high quality and really supports the excellent sculpt. All of the little straps for his armor plates are neatly painted brown. The dark maroon suit and dull gold and grey metallic paint conspire to make a far less colorful looking figure than the pre-reboot DCUC version. Like I said earlier, this is a grittier Deadshot and the darker colors work well with the realism of the design. I’m thoroughly convinced that WB could basically bring this costume straight to the big screen without any tweaking at all. If I were going to nitpick anything on the paint it would be that the artwork from the comic often suggests to me that Floyd’s armor be a bit shinier. Still, I’m not sure a high gloss metallic would have worked on the figure as well as what we got.

While old Deadshot was just fine going into battle with his wrist guns, this version comes with a big and beautifully detailed assault rifle. I love the sculpting on this piece. The scopes alone are ridiculously complex and every little panel line and screw are reproduced right down to the textured grips. Deadshot can hold the rifle perfectly in his left hand, and can even loop his finger around the trigger, but his right hand is sculpted in a fist. Here’s where a swap out right hand would have been great. I get why the fist was used, as it looks good when Deadshot is aiming his wrist gun, but it would have been nice to get him to hold the rifle in both hands.

As with Captain Boomerang, Deadshot’s articulation is a pleasant surprise. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The elbows, knees, and ankles all have hinges. And lastly, there are swivels in the biceps, gloves, and at the tops of his boots. It’s not quite the same level of articulation we saw in Digger. There’s no waist swivel here and Boomerang had ball joints in the elbows, but what’s here is still pretty good and offers a lot better poseability than I got in most of my DC Direct figures.

While this new version of Deadshot will never replace the old one as my favorite, I still dig the design and this figure does it and the comic art justice. The sculpt is super detailed and pretty much flawless with a paintjob to match. He’s beautifully proportioned, well-articulated, and looks quite stunning on the shelf. What’s not to like? Well, he set me back $21.95, which still seems a little steep but the addition of his amazing rifle helps cushion the blow and I’m not going to quibble about a couple of dollars anyway. Truth be told, I DCC probably could have squeezed a few more bucks out of me because I wanted Suicide Squad figures so badly. Next week we’ll finish off this troublesome trio with a look at the Squad’s femme fatale herself… Harley Quinn.